If you're visiting Paris for a week or more, should you consider splitting your stay between two or more neighborhoods so that you can experience different parts of the city?

In the Sunday edition of my free Paris Discoveries Newsletter, I answer reader questions about Paris travel.  Recently, readers have asked whether it makes sense to move from one Parisian neighborhood and hotel to another when time permits.

This article is part of the Paris Discoveries Q&A Archive and brings together my answers based on my own experiences with staying in multiple neighborhoods on longer trips.  

You'll find advice about whether splitting your stay is worth doing, how to choose best-for-you neighborhood combinations, hotel suggestions for several popular areas, and. 

I've lightly edited, expanded, and updated my original answers, included a few practical tips for making the move from one hotel to another easier, and added photos to make this a more complete Paris travel resource. 

Which Paris Food Tours Do You Recommend?

Mary Beth's Question:

We are looking forward to a five week stay in a Parisian apartment from mid-October to early December.

We are very interested in eating well and will be in the 5th arrondissement.

Do you have any particular food tours to recommend? 

Susan's Answer:

Hi Mary Beth, you can find all my favorite food tours in this article.

In particular, check out the one in the Latin Quarter, as the guide will take you to some wonderful places plus it's an excellent tour of this fascinating neighborhood.

I can't tell from your message if you've spent much time in Paris before but if you haven't, another food tour that you might especially enjoy is the Covered Passages Food Tour on the Right Bank (the part of the city that's north of the Seine River).

The food and wine that we sampled was all excellent, and we visited places that we wouldn't have discovered on my own.

In addition, we explored five of Paris's best 19th century covered passages - special places that are easy to miss on your own. And finally, you get to see three different arrondissements in this interesting part of the city.

Fall is also an interesting time to visit the wine and Champagne regions near Paris.  I particularly like this day trip, Champagne Tasting and Lunch Day Trip, as you get to enjoy 8 different Champagnes plus an introduction to the region where they're made, including a visit to a family winery where you'll also have lunch at the winemaker's table. 

Added bonus: I've been on this tour a few times during the past decade, and each time the food served at the lunch has included dishes so good that I've tried to replicate them at home.

Also, even though you're not asking specifically about markets, I want to mention that in the Latin Quarter, you'll be close to a couple of the city's best farmers' markets and a wonderful market street:  Marché Monge (Wednesday, Friday, Sunday), Marché Maubert (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday), and Rue Mouffetard (some shops may be closed on Monday; the street is pedestrian-only on Sundays until about 3pm).

I hope you have a wonderful time in Paris, and savor every moment of whichever food tour(s) you take!

What Pastry and/or Chocolate Tasting Tour Should We Take?

Harold's Question:

While in Paris we would like to take a pastry and/or chocolate tasting tour. Can you offer some recommendations?

Susan's Answer: 

Yes, I'm very happy to - food tours are one of my own favorite things to do in Paris. I've included some of my favorite tours - the "best of the best" - in this article about favorite food tours, so please take a look as I'm going to refer to it for my recommendations plus it has more information about each tour.

The two chocolate-focused tours that I'd recommend are the Saint-Germain Chocolate & Patisserie Walking Tour that includes both pastries and chocolates, and the Pure Chocolate Walking Tour in the 1st and 8th arrondissements. Both tours take you through very upscale parts of Paris, although quite different from each other, and the tastings themselves are memorable.

A third one that you might consider is the Covered Passages Food Tour, which includes both pastries and gourmet chocolates (as well as wine, charcuterie, and cheese) and has the added bonus of also taking you through several of Paris's best 19th century covered passages.

The guides for all three tours were excellent when I went on them - highly knowledgeable about what we were tasting, and also the neighborhoods (and covered passages) we were exploring.

Honestly, if you have time, take more than one.  They give you an ideal way to experience the city as well as some of its famous culinary creations.

Which Marais Food Tour Do You Recommend?

Sue's Question:

My husband and I are heading to Paris next May to visit a friend who lives there now. I've been to Paris and am less interested in the major sites and more interested in walking around in an area with fun restaurants, interesting shops and great architecture. We're thinking of booking a food tour of the Marais area and it looks like there are several. Any you'd recommend?

Susan's Answer:

My favorite is this Marais Walking Food Tour with Cheese, Wine, & Pastries, which begins near the Marché des Enfants Rouges in the Upper Marais. 

I've taken it twice, with two different guides, and although both tours started at Enfants Rouges (which, incidentally, is the oldest covered market in Paris), the rest of the locations where we stopped along the way were totally different, although they were all terrific. 

Both guides were deeply immersed in Paris's food scene and culture, although in different aspects, and they were passionate about the quality and particular specialties of the places where we sampled the food.  They brought us to places that they described as "the best of the best," and shared lots of food-related information based on their own areas of expertise and interest.  

At the shop of Parisian Jacques Genin, for example, we tasted his specialty chocolates as well as two other creations, caramels and pâtes de fruits, for which he's even more famous.  As we savored the flavors, our guide explained the approaches and techiques used to create the intense, not-too-sweet flavors and sensations. 

By the time we left, I understood both the artistry and craft - really, the magic - that goes producing them.  The experience went way beyond simply going into a chocolate store, buying a couple of pieces, and thinking, "wow, that's good" while eating them. 

So I loved not only the food and wine side of this tour, but also all of the interesting sights along the way, plus the insights into Paris's food culture. 

Based on my own experiences, I highly recommend it.   You can see more details in my Paris food tours article. 

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See Questions & Answers on Similar Topics

Wondering about specific neighborhoods for your Paris visit?  You'll find those Q&A archives here:

• Where to Stay in the Marais (placeholder: add links later)
• Where to Stay in Saint-Germain (placeholder: add links later)

Paris Neighborhoods & Hotels - Where to stay in Paris + choosing the right hotel

Paris Discoveries Q&A Archive - See Q&As on all topics

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